Eagles, Banner could be at war for Kelly

Cleveland Browns CEO Joe Banner answers questions during a news conference at the Browns' NFL football training facility Monday, Dec. 31, 2012, in Berea, Ohio. One day after ending yet another dismal season with a loss in Pittsburgh, Cleveland fired coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert, the first moves in what is expected to be a massive offseason overhaul by new owner Jimmy Haslam. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Such is the fate of the Eagles’ brain trust of owner Jeffrey Lurie, president Don Smolenski and Howie Roseman, who cannot help but bump into a couple of guys who used to be their own in Joe Banner and Andy Reid.

While the chances they all get in the same elevator together are minimal, it’s going to be almost impossible for them to totally avoid each other.

Since it’s barely 62 degrees in Glendale, Ariz., site of the Arizona Cardinals Stadium and the game, may we suggest Jeff, Don and Howie engage Joe B., now chief executive officer of the Cleveland Browns, in a dialogue about all of the extra tickets available for Oregon-Kansas State? Beats the weather, right?

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And while we’re discussing possible chit-chat, those re-tweets about Reid’s Thursday head coaching interview with the Arizona Cardinals being conducted at the Golden Corral rather than team headquarters are tired and grossly inaccurate. He’s a Carl’s Jr. cheeseburger-with-pickles guy.

Whatever those guys talk about is going to be more interesting to us than them. Imagine the stories they could tell. Think Banner ever washed his stinky socks and hung them up to dry in the office killing time during a marathon contract negotiating session? Wonder if anyone used Lurie’s infusion hair dryer and felt his wrath after failing to put it back where they got it? Think Reid is sore his executive parking spot at One NovaCare Way always had someone else’s car in it? Think they would laugh just at the mention of, “T.O.?”

Those days are over. Now they will be at each other’s throats.

Rest assured the last thing the Eagles need to do right now is allow Banner the opening to debate the quality of the drafts he had with them. Not when they’re about to go toe-to-toe with him for the right to hire Oregon coach Chip Kelly, who can be interviewed Friday.

When Lurie adeptly said the Eagles’ 2011 draft wasn’t the fault of Roseman, it intimated Banner was the culprit. Pressed to identify the source of the problem Lurie said it was better to take a “much higher road” than finger anyone. Left unsaid was: if Banner wasn’t culpable along with Reid, who was? Ryan Grigson, the general manager of the playoff-bound Indianapolis Colts?

Reid, on the other hand, could be much more easily drawn into a conversation about how his Wednesday interview went with the Kansas City Chiefs. Former Eagles executive Mark Donovan is helping court Reid to fill the Chiefs’ head coaching vacancy. Donovan worked with Reid long enough he wouldn’t have needed directions to Reid’s Villanova abode.

The Chiefs (2-14) would be a great opportunity for Reid to see if he can still win. They have talent. They can get a pretty good quarterback with the first pick in the upcoming draft if they convince Georgia junior Aaron Murray (6-1, 210), who threw a Capital One Bowl record five touchdown passes to defeat Nebraska, that it’s time to go pro.

The Cardinals are heavily courting Reid, who coached the Eagles to a 4-12 record and for the second straight year failed to reach the playoffs. It’s obvious they think Reid can revive the career of Kevin Kolb, who Reid drafted and then traded to the Cardinals. Then again, if Kolb had stayed healthy for more than five starts, Ken Whisenhunt wouldn’t have lost his job. The Cardinals finished 5-11.

Reid won’t formally interview with the Cardinals until this morning, but the contract terms are coming out. It’s hard to imagine Reid settling for a three-year deal with an option for a fourth year averaging about the $6 million he earned annually with the Eagles. There are reports Reid wants five years from the Bidwills. The Chiefs could be leverage.

Unless the Eagles shock the world and hire Atlanta Falcons assistants Dick Nolan or Daryl Armstrong, who they began interviewing Wednesday, it will be them against Banner, the Browns and a cast of untold others in a serious play for the services of Kelly. Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall of those interviews with Kelly?

If the Eagles don’t get Kelly and pass on the Atlanta guys they can pitch Penn State coach Bill O’Brien, Syracuse coach Doug Marrone or Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy.

If the Eagles don’t get Kelly, and Banner does, you will never, ever hear the end of it. Right now Banner has something the Eagles cannot offer – his choice of general managers. Roseman comes with the job.

The Eagles’ thinking can change. They cannot change the past. What you won hear Lurie, Smolenski, Roseman, Banner and Reid do is collaborate on that old refrain they hummed so often during the 2004 Super Bowl season.